How to Play “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” on Piano

“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” is one of the most well-known and loved Christian hymns of all time. It was written by Isaac Watts in the early 18th century.

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As common with many hymns, it has been sung to a variety of melodies. This tutorial uses the Rockingham tune by Edward Miller. The piece of music is primarily set in 3/4 (waltz) time, with one bar of 4/4 in the middle. It’s set in E♭ major.

The melody is a fairly easy one to play, but do watch out for the combination of white and black notes, particularly if you’re not used to playing in keys such as this.

E♭ major has three flats – E♭, B♭ and A♭.

I recommend starting the melody with your right hand thumb on the first E♭. In bar 3, play the E♭ with your thumb and the G with your second finger, the B♭ of the next bar with your fourth finger, and the C with your fifth finger.

After you’ve played the B♭ in bar 5 with your fourth finger, switch to your second finger so you can reach up to the higher E♭ in bar six with your fifth finger. Run down to the B♭ at the end in bar 7, then switch again to your fourth finger for the repeated B♭ in bar 8.

Bar 9 is a 4/4 bar which allows for the slight feeling of a pause in between end of the second line and the start of the third line. If you know the tune itself it should cause you no problems.

Back to 3/4 in bar 10. Stretch up to the B♭ with your second finger, then play the remaining notes as they most naturally fall under your fingers, ending with your thumb on E♭ at the end of bar 13.

Back up to your fourth finger for the A♭ in bar 14, and a natural run to the end.

Melody with Right Hand Chords

When playing this, it would be wise to make use of the sustain pedal so you can transition between the chords more smoothly.

Some of the chord transitions involve quite a jump, such as that from the B♭ first inversion chord at the end of bar 5 to the C minor second inversion chord at the start of bar 6.

It can also be quite a tricky stretch to play the chords together with the higher melody note. The run of notes in bar 16 may be quite a stretch. If this is the case, don’t play the lowest note of the chord.